Hi Everyone,

ok, my shop is back "open" again after two weeks "closed" catching up on the backlog of repairs.

I caught up a lot in the last two weeks, but I've still got a way to go before I'm back up-to-date. I'm going to have to either slow down on new bookings, or advise a longer time-frame until completion for the next month or two.

I'm not going to compromise and try to rush through the work- this has never been my way. I will work through the jobs as methodically as I always have.

As always, if you need a repair to be completed by a particular date, for a gig or an exam or similar, then I will jump your guitar up the queue past the ones that I've been given an open time-frame for.

I'll try to call you regarding completed repairs, but I tend to do this in a batch at the end of the week. So if you haven't heard from me, and you're thinking about your guitar, please give me a call or send me an email.

It's an unprecedented time.

I think I've also figured out how to update my website's "Shop" page, thanks to instructions from my dear ex-website lady. So, with luck, in a day or two you  should be able to see my shop's inventory of very nice and interesting guitars for sale!

Keep well out there, be sensible and cautious, and keep on playing!

Andrew

Hi Everyone,

following up on my last post - I'm so busy that in fairness to those folk who already have an instrument booked in for repair, my shop will be closed this week and next so that I can catch up.

It's this COVID thing. When it kicked off in March/April a lot of people brought repairs in to me - a lot of them biggish jobs that the owners had been putting off for years (such as gigging musicians finally getting around to that refret, given that they were no longer gigging). Some folk brought in three or four guitars, saying "won't be needing these for a while".

 

The government at the time was hinting at a six-month lockdown so I took on everything I could, figuring that I'd need the work. But then they instead gave us these semi-lockdown conditions, and indoor activities (such as guitar-playing) have boomed. I'm getting people who haven't played in years getting back into it, and guitars that haven't been out of the attic for decades coming in for refurbishment. The government stimulus money seems to be part of it - I'm sure they're paying for more than a few Martin and Gibson restorations!

I'm always busy, but this thing has sent it ballistic. I know a lot of folk have been adversely affected by COVID, and it certainly makes me feel a bit weird to be busier than ever because of it, but I've seen lots of people re-inventing (or re-discovering) themselves because of the limitations imposed. Lots of people getting back into playing guitar! So in some ways it's been a good thing, albeit in a strange way.

So thanks for your patience. I'll be back to "normal" in a week or two, but will still have to book most repairs in on a longer turn-around time than usual until I get back up to date. 

Andrew

 

 Hi there my friends,

trust that you're all fine and well during these very, very odd days.

I'm incredibly busy with work. Thanks to all of you for that, but it's going to require some patience (on both your part and mine) to get through the work. I won't compromise quality for speed, so things may take a little longer than usual to get done. I'll try to keep you all posted.

Fact is: I've never been busier. I've never had more work booked in, and never had more people trusting me with their instruments. And this is the start of my 40th year doing this gig...!

Strange days indeed.

So.

With respect to those of you who already have an instrument booked in with me for repair, so that I can get your job done I won't be taking any new work in for at least a couple of weeks, probably until at least mid-September. Which is actually just two weeks away...

If you haven't called me yet, and you'd like me to work on your instrument, then I'll be more than happy to do so - but it will be a few weeks at least before I can do so.

Thank you all for your support (and your patience) and please keep well during these crazy times.

Andrew

 Hi Everyone,

trusting that you're all well and dealing with this strange new world in the best way that you can.

This month sees me start my 16th year with my shop in Lismore, and my 40th year as a professional guitar-repairer. 40 years! People have received less for murder!

But it has been good. Almost every day for 40 years I have made someone's guitar play better. And usually several people's. Often several people's...

When I left school I had no idea what I wanted to do, apart from becoming a rock-star (of course). My first job was as an accounts clerk at a Building Society in Sydney. My parents, and the management of the Building-Society, all wanted me to become an accountant. Given my subsequent hopeless understanding of money that would surely have been a positive move, but then my future guitar clients wouldn't have  benefited from my modest pricing!

OK. The technical bit.

In the last two or three months I have seen four or five American Fender Stratocasters with their truss-rod nuts wrecked. I have seen this many times over the years, but four in a month is too many.

Here is the reason: many USA truss-rod nuts (including the late-'60s bullet version, and the post '85 new Fender Company version) all use a 1/8" allen key. 1/8" is approximately 3.2mm.

A 3mm allen key is more common than a 1/8", and is used on guitars fitted with a Floyd Rose-type system, including the millions of Asian-made versions. More of these guitars have been made than American Fenders, and the common 3mm key ALMOST fits the USA 1/8" nut.

HERE IS THE THING: a 3mm allen key will ALMOST fit a 1/8" nut. But not quite. If you try to use a 3m key in a 1/8" nut you will WRECK THE NUT!

Given the recent spate, I'm hoping that there isn't someone locally who has taken it upon themselves to "fix" some local Fenders without knowing which key to use.

The metric system was invented about 100 years ago by the French, in an attempt to simplify measurements, but all it actually did was reduce the accuracy of small measurements!

The engineering world still uses imperial measurements for larger numbers, and decimal imperial (ie: based on one-thousands of an inch) for small measurements. The French system's seemingly "tiny" millimetre is actually 0.040" (forty thousandths of an inch). That means that there are forty accurate imperial measurements within the range of the giant metric millimetre!

When working with guitars, which are devices that have to be set to very fine tolerances, millimetres are simply way too big !

Andrew

21.7.20


Hi everyone,

I just crossed a milestone. This week makes it 15 years since I opened my shop in Lismore!


Thanks to every one of you who have trusted your guitars to me. Best wishes to you all.

For 25 years before I moved here I worked out of other people's shops in Sydney - Guitar City, Guitar Factory, Guitar World. Learning, and doing the repairs for established shops like that was a serious responsibility.

When I moved to Lismore I wanted to have a repair-shop that would serve the guitar players of the north coast, and also be independent in such a way that I could have a positive relationship with the music stores of the region. I had plenty of experience with the poisonous relationship between Sydney guitar shops, even if they had no brands or stock lines in common!

This worked out well almost immediately! I continue to have great relationships with the shops in our region - Planet Music Lismore, Byron Music, Valiant Music Brunswick Heads, Russell's Music Lismore. I was also in communication with the Mullumbimby guys when the crazy covid disruption occurred. We are blessed to have great music stores in our region - I trust that you will continue to support them all.


Moving here was a leap-of-faith. I know I'm good at what I do - after 40 years I would have no excuse otherwise - but almost every single one of you, for whom I have been privileged to work for, has trusted that leap of faith.

The majority of what I do depends upon "word-of-mouth". I had a typical thing happen today. Two customers thought that they had recognized each other, but couldn't figure out from where. They back-tracked through gigs, college, school and McDonalds and it turned out that they had previously met HERE (!) at my shop.

So. My guitar-repair shop continues. Obeying government space and distance protocols, hand-cleaners at the ready.

Been a weird anniversary, but otherwise than being VERY busy, no serious change to standard AK procedures!

Keep well my crazy friends,
and play your dear guitars until they simply have to be fixed!


Andrew

Hi everyone,

trusting that you are all fine and dealing well with the current weirdness.

My shop is back open regular hours: 1.00pm - 5.00pm Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. You are welcome to drop by at any of those times. I will be observing advised space and distance protocols.

I will continue to post stuff on this journal page that should be of interest.

Over the last month or so I have seen four American Fender Strats that have had wrecked truss-rod nuts. In the previous 30 years or more I have seen this a few times, but 4 in a month is a bit of a pandemic (please excuse the term).

Here's the thing: USA-made Fenders use a truss-rod nut that is adjustable with a 1/8" allen key (American Fenders are made to "imperial" measurements). Many Asian-made guitars use metric allen keys to adjust various components. Most Asian truss-rods are either 4mm or 5mm, but some early Chinese Squiers use the same 3/16" truss rod as Mexican Fenders do.


Floyd Rose lock-nuts and bridges use a 3mm key, and these are plentiful. Imperial tools are a little harder to find in dear old Metric Australia.


Using a 3mm key in a 1/8" truss rod will wreck the truss rod nut. 1/8" is approximately 3.2mm, and will "almost" fit . But the tiny difference means that using a 3mm key in a 1/8"" nut will round-over the edges of the nut and render it un-useable.

Have these guitars with wrecked truss-rod nuts been "adjusted" by folk in isolation/lockdown  who just wanted their guitars to play better and didn't know the difference between the imperial and metric measurements? Good question.


In the 1970s, when Australia converted to metric, it became illegal for a short while to make or sell items or tools graduated in Imperial measurements! After a brief review, Mr.Fraser's government realised that Australia's entire manufacturing industry was based on imperial measurements, and they repealed that law!

For many years afterwards (and in some cases still) the metric-measured things that you bought were still manufactured in Imperial measurements and sold as "metric". The 6mm dowel that you bought from Mitre 10 was actually 1/4" dowel. There was no point in completely re-tooling every manufacturing industry, so they all basically fudged the numbers a bit! Even now if you buy a sheet of  Melamine chipboard from Bunnings, it will be sold as 1200 x 600mm but is actually 4 foot x 2 foot!


So.

Some metric measurements are very close to the imperial ones, but NONE are close enough that the wrong toll will work.

If you fit a 3mm key in a 1/8" USA Fender truss-rod nut it will feel almost "right". But if you try to tighten the truss-rod (which is under tension) you will round over the truss-rod nut and wreck it. This immediately ruins the shape of the nut and prevents any further adjustments. I'm pretty sure that this has been the cause of these recent Fender truss-rod problems that I have been tasked with.

I'm guessing that the recent spate of 1/8" versus 3mm problems have arised because more people have been trying to do DIY fixes at home.

Golden Rule is that if you're not absolutely 100% sure what you're doing, then don't do it!

Very soon I will post a journal entry explaining and simplifying the imperial measurement system. When clearly explained and understood, it is much simpler and more accurate than the metric system!

Hi Everyone,

from this week on I will have my shop open regular hours - 1.00pm - 5.00pm Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. So effectively back to "normal".

In accordance with the ongoing medical situation I ask everyone to follow advised protocols, and as my shop is a small space, in accordance with the 4sqm rule, my shop is open to no more than two customers at a time. Please don't be offended if I ask you to wait in the corridor for a minute or two.

Strange days indeed. But regardless of this, I am back to normal trading.

Everything (ok, almost everything) is how it was before COVID19. Some parts supplies have been interrupted, especially those from the US, but this should shake down over the next few weeks.

Biggest problem is that most small parcel freight always came via passenger flights (ie: the 300 people in the passenger section subsidized the parcels downstairs) and this clearly isn't happening at the moment, so small freight has to wait until it can be added to BIG freight shipments. This is going to both slow down, and increase cost, of small parcel freight.

I have trade deals with the Australian distributors, as well as several of the US ones, and should be able to keep most supply lines open.. The plummeting dollar, as well as the restricted supply, might make some things a little more expensive - but an extra five dollars on the cost of a CRL switch shouldn't be too much to bear.

I will keep you all informed as best as I can.

AK